[Review of] The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring

Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins
Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf
Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn
Sir Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins
Sean Astin as Sam Gamgee
Billy Boyd as Pippin Took
Dominic Monaghan as Merry Brandybuck
Orlando Bloom as Legolas
John Rhys-Davies as Gimli
John Rhys-Davies (voice) as Treebeard
Sean Bean as Boromir
Cate Blanchett as Galadriel
Liv Tyler as Arwen
Christopher Lee as Saruman
Brad Dourif as Grima Wormtongue
Andy Serkis (voice) as Smeagol (Gollum)

A review by Ronald Epstein

One ring to rule them all,
One ring to find them,
one ring to bring them all and in
the darkness bind them.

Published in 1954-1955, J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece Lord Of The Rings trilogy still remains one of the
most definitive works of imaginary fiction ever written. The extraordinary efforts to get this trilogy to
the screen is a testament of how popular these stories are today. New Line has taken a gamble and risked
everything by filming all three movies back-to-back without knowing the fate of the original release.
The Fellowship of the Ring is the very first of the Tolkien trilogy. It will be followed up with
The Two Towers (2002) and Return of the King (2003).

As release date slowly draws nearer, everyone is holding their breath. Will this film live up to expectations?
Will this movie make a strong enough impact that audiences will anxiously want to remain loyal to the
films that will follow? The answer is a definitive YES on all accounts.

Lord Of The Rings will make its mark in film history. Fans will embrace this film and newcomers will
be in complete awe of one of the most visually entertaining films ever made....and this is only the beginning!

The film begins with lengthy female narrative that tells the story of Middle Earth - the ancient land of elves,
dwarves, hobbits, wizards and other creatures. We are told of the creation of the individual rings that
were handed down to the wisest and most noblest creatures of Middle Earth. We are then told of the ONE
ring that was forged out of Mount Doom -- the ring that controlled all others -- worn by the dark and
evil Lord Sauren. We are told of a battle and the defeat of Sauren and how his ring is eventually lost
only to be found by Gollum, a lowly creature that gets poisoned by its power. The ring is eventually
stolen by hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. And so, this is where the trilogy begins.....

It's a beautiful day in the Shire, the peaceful home of the Hobbits. A carriage rolls through a lone road
that parts meadows of lush grass and farmland. It is Gandalf the Wizard visiting his old Hobbit friend,
Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm). It is Bilbo's birthday, and the old hobbit is more concerned about leaving the
Shire rather than partake in any party. Something is very heavy on Bilbo's mind, and Gandalf is watching
him closely. That evening, Bilbo's party is in full swing with some of the most amazing and beautiful firework
displays ever seen on film. When Bilbo makes a daring announcement to his party guests, Gandalf realizes that
Bilbo is in possession of a very important ring. Gandalf convinces Bilbo to give up the ring, and give it to
the very young Frodo (Elijah Wood). When the secret of the ring is finally revealed to the old Wizard, Frodo
is warned to leave the Shire at once. Hence, the adventure of a lifetime begins.

Clocking in at about 3 hours running length, Lord Of The Rings doesn't waste time. Every minute of
the film is used to remain as faithful to the book as possible. The most important aspect of this film is
that it had to properly tell the story as written. The end result is that this film becomes a definitive
and accurate recreation of the story.

Though it had been 20 years since I last read the trilogy, the film brought back every single memory I had
of the story with visuals that exceeded my own imagination. You will see visuals in this film that go beyond
anything you have seen before. The film is visually beautiful as we travel through the lush green grasses
of the Shire with the huts built into the hills, or, the beautiful mountain village of Rivendell, inhabited
by the Elves. With so much beauty also comes the darkness of Mordor and Mount Doom so grimly recreated
with cameras that swoop into the lowest depths of these locations as we watch armies of death manufacturer
weapons as they grow, amass, and hunt the one that holds the ring.

Make no mistake about it, this film is very dark. The most terrifying creatures of Middle Earth are
realistically brought to life. Whether it be the Ringwraiths, dark riders who are neither dead or alive
or the armies of orcs who inhabit the Mountains of the Dwarf kingdom, this movie manages to keep your
heart racing with scene after scene of edge-of-the-seat battles set to sweeping music of Howard Shore.

I have two favorite sequences in this movie. One involves a duel between Gandalf (Ian Holm) and the
elder wizard, Saruman (Christopher Lee). With each Wizard testing their powers against each other,
the duel becomes one of the most memorable scenes of the film as we see Gandalf helplessly spinning
around the floor. Another favorite sequence involves Frodo putting the ring on his finger and not
only becoming invisible to the outside world, but being visible to the inner world of darkness. These
effect sequences are creatively reproduced on screen to the point where you get chills running down
your spine.

The biggest hurdles that New Line faces with Lord Of The Rings is the 3-hour running time and
the fact that this is not a film that is going to appeal to all audiences. While the fans who read
the original books are going to be enthralled with its faithfulness to the book, I couldn't help but
hear many women of the audience talking afterwards about how much they were unimpressed by the whole
film. Fans of the books and Fantasy films alike are in for the treat of their lives. Lord Of The Rings
has accomplished what many thought was the impossible -- to bring a live-action film to the screen
that accurately portrays the books as written, with enough visual eyes candy and engrossing battle scenes
that could very well make this the STAR WARS trilogy of the new century.

Anonymous 4 (via "Leonides"):

I saw that some reviews seem to be coming out online, so I figure it's safe to send this to you now. I apologize for not being in touch with you the past few months, but things got pretty crazy for a while, as I'm sure you can understand. However, this weekend I saw that it was totally worth it. All the time and money that went into this project was worth it.
My initial, viceral reaction is this: My mind is still reeling, my heart is still aching, and my thoughts are still some place far, far away... in a dreamland I thought could never exist outside my imagination. But it does. It's here, and it is real. Leo, I'm telling you that Peter has done it. Everything you could have hoped for has happened. Now I know you like details, so I guess I'll go into that. I've only seen it once, though, so pardon me if I get some things wrong.
In regards to characters, Elijah Wood is excellent in his role. I truly can't imagine another actor taking command of this quite like he does. At times it is quite painful watching this innocent hobbit going through all this overwhelming darkness. Even though I read the books there are times I believed he wasn't going to make it, when the Shadow was going to swallow him up. This occured at Weathertop specifically, as the Nazgul bore down on his frail form... it was chilling. Another moment that stands out for Wood was at Amon Hen. There the look in his eyes really got to me. There's a moment, just before Boromir truly "turns" that you can see in his gaze that he knows what's coming, and he's frightened but also sad -- he looks at Boromir in pity.
Viggo Mortensen -- well, what can be said except that everything you heard has been true. Aragorn was on the set for filming. He's got some killer lines... full of drama and power, but I think the best thing about his performance was how we get a sense that we're not seeing his true power just yet. This is a man of mystery, that leaves himself guarded to everyone but a few (Gandalf, Elrond, Arwen). He watches more then he speaks, much like Legolas in that respect. In fact, in many ways he acts like one of the elves -- reserved, quiet, deadly, regality surrounding him. I suppose this goes along with hsi backstory of being raised in the house of Elrond. I loved the scene between Elrond and Aragorn as Aragorn knelt by his Mother's grave in Rivendell. I have to say that it was one of Viggo's finest moments in Fellowship... full of emotion and power.
Gandalf, of course, was played to perfection. Ian McKellen is simply perfect -- there is no question. The rest of the Fellowship fall in line perfectly. The trio of Hobbits are portrayed exactly as I imagined (Sam the stout loyal one, and Merry & Pippin being... well... being Merry & Pippin). Legolas reminded me of some sort of assasin... he moved like a ninja. Truly a dangerous fellow who definetly seemed a bit detached from the "normal" world. John Rhys-Davies played a great Gimli... I only wish his facial make-up had been a bit less extensive around the eyes. Most of his acting came from the way he delivered his lines, which was fine, but it would have been nice to see some more of his face.
The dialog was almost entirely from the book (as I told you before, about 85\%), and it is spoken beautifully. It sounded very naturally (especially Gandalf's lines, which are almost poetic). There was only one line in the who film which I did not like, and it wasn't because of the delivery... it just didn't seem to "fit."
WETA did one hell of a job on the SFX. The great thing about them is that it's difficult to tell where the "natural" camera tricks were and where they used CGI and such. The film, however, didn't come across (to me) as a special effects extravaganza because they didn't showboat it. They made it feel REAL. They didn't say, "Hey! Look what we can do!" they just did it, and made it a part of the story. I don't know if that made sense or not, but I think you'll see what I mean.
I'm sure you've heard the score by now, but let me tell you: it's magnafied 10-fold when you have the accompanying images. The Breaking of the Fellowship was one of the most heart-wrenching minutes of cinema I've had the absolutely pleasure of viewing.

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